# Ad-ventures
2018.08.28/09:28
... written by lambda
Born in the BRD, during the 1980ties I grew up
with relatives on both sides of the Berlin Wall.
## Visitors
One day we 've got visitors from the GDR. It must
have been around 1987. They introduced themselves
as Auntie Helga and Uncle Otto.
As any good Aunt and Uncle, they got me some
presents: a cardboard box full of wire puzzles and
a book containing a plethora of logic riddles,
mazes, puzzle pictures, as well as combinations of
them in the form of detective stories. I liked
them instantly.
The box was the beginning for me to collect wire
puzzles. Even today (2018) I'm still fascinated by
them. Sadly I lost all of these original wire
puzzles during the past years - but I still have
the book.
## "Have fun during leisure"
In English, its title would be "Have fun during
leisure. - Riddles, Games, Brainteasers", written
by V. N. Bolchovitinov, B. I. Koltovoj, and I. K.
Lagovskij. (For further bibliographical
information see: below.)
Some weeks ago, I came up with the idea to try
some of the old riddles again. I opened the book
and I saw that there were almost a whole chapter
of them spared. It seems that I'd never even
touched them. I grew excited: Why didn't I solve
them all those years ago?
## You just don't ...
Then it hit me: In order to solve them, I had to
write into the book. Back in the 80ies, you would
've never done that. For two reasons.
First, because books were an expensive and scarce
resource... at least, if you had to buy them from
your pocket money and you 'd never enough to buy
an issue of the Three Investigators and the
current issue of YPS magazine.
Second - and most important - it was considered a
crime among friends. There was a rule of
friendship: Good(!) friends never write into (each
other's) books.
And you knew for sure, that your good friend, who
has already gotten that new Three Investigators
book(, which you did want to start reading
yesterday), does obey that rule as well.
## The friend's version of ownership...
To lend a friend a book with scribbles and/or
dog's ears was considered disrespectful to
h(er|im), because it meant to rub your friend's
nose into the fact that (s|)he doesn't own, what
(s|)he wants (or, in case of school books, need).
Also, it would make your friend feel 2.nd class
compared to any future (possbily unknown) owner,
because in order to resell the book for a good
price you'd keep it as much as possible in it's
original condition, but not in order to lend it to
a friend.
This does indicate that you value the market over
your friendship and put any potential customer
before your very real and personal friend.
You, pactically, sold your friendship,
disrespected your friend and dishonoured yourself.
A tough act, especially if the beating doesn't
start at school, but could be waiting around the
next corner...
## ... radiates respect.
Bottom line is: Back in the day's (or at the age
of ~7) you didn't just own a book. You were as
much responsible for it's well-being and health as
well as you were for your friends. You may not
have a pet, nor a plant, but at least you have a
book and you better treat it with respect.
On the other hand, if you don't own the book, you
weren't allowed to write in it on general
principle: You don't litter in other peoples
stuff.
## Caught in between the lines of respect
I woke off of this recollection and found myself
caught in between the lines of respect again: Am I
really - morally - allowed to dare writing into a
book I kept clean for more than 30 years in the
name of friendship and respect and such (not to
forget: due to forgetfulness). Of course I'm not.
## What are my options?
This turned me to the option of copying... again.
As I were a child, there were no copy shops in
town and to copy each riddles by hand before
solving it was not only tedious, but also not
really fun... especially if you wanted to start
right now.
But today, there are copyshops everywhere. But
have you seen the prices? I mean, copying the
past riddles by paying today's prices is out of
the question.
So, almost 31years later, I decided to buy the
book. Shame on my capitalistic self.
## Flotsam and Jetsam
With that particular iron curtain removed and ebay
installed I started to walk along 'the beach',
searching. Within seconds, I found plenty of
original copies. I bought one for 4,44 Euro.
Compared with the original price of 11,80 Mark, I
got a real bargain here... This really beats
walking to the copy shop.
## Or does it ...?
Later I got a mail, confirming my purchase,
containing additional ads. But something seems to
went wrong. The topic of "Riddles, Games,
Brainteasers" doesn't appear at all... in any of
them.
Granted, the main title is "Have fun during
leisure".
Granted, you can open lots of categories here,
e.g. fishing or collecting stamps...
*cough*
Among the promoted titles were:
1. "Fuck me"
2. "Little Cunt"
3. "Spanking."
4. "Fuck me, Horst!"
Or perhaps ebay really took the subtitle into
account...
Thanks ebay. Either way: You know for sure how to
make me feel like a nerd.
## Add salt to insult and injury
Now I have two copies, one for reading, and one
especially for writing into it... but I still
cannot. It still feels just wrong to write into
it. I mean, this book is almost unused...
Goddammit! I'll go to a copy shop...
# Postscriptum - The Real Detective Story
Recently I found out, there have never ever been
any family ties to somebody named Helga or Otto.
The couple that visited us all those years ago
worked for the GDR. Don't know for sure, whether
they were STASI.
Getting to know this came as a shock. It felt like
the cold breath of the war monster did not only
roam through my childhood, but touched me,
disguised as some of my favourite toys.
Nevertheless they helped saving my (real) Uncle
Herbert. Between 1960 and 1980, he worked as a
farmhand. Being mentally disabled, he got
physically exploited. The farmer worked him like
an animal. In order to save him from (further)
harm "Helga" and "Otto" "arranged" his leave to
West Germany.
# References
(TXT) (GP) Mechanical Puzzle
Gopherpedia. Last access: 2018.08.30.
(TXT) (GP) Disentanglement Puzzle
Gopherpedia. Last access: 2018.08.30.
(HTM) </www> DDB: Spass fuer freie Stunden
V. N. Bolchovitinov, B. I. Koltovoj, and I. K. Lagovskij: Spass für freie Stunden. Rätsel, Spiele, Denkaufgaben.
Verlag MIR - Verlag für die Frau. Moskau, Leipzig: 1980.
(IMG) Cover of book 'Spass fuer freie Stunden'
(TXT) (GP) MIR (Publishers)
Gopherpedia. Last access: 2018.08.30.